Level One
by SilverMoonPhantom
Summary: Being the evil spirit that he is, Technus traps danny in a computer program...where he is forced to play old video games to survive. The purpose? Technus's amusement...or is there something darker behind this?
1. Chapter 1

Danny cried out in terror as his body twirled around from the force of that last blast, a part of his Hazmat outfit charred away. Pale skin healed easily, but the blow had caused him to loose focus.

Technus laughed at him, black sunglasses glinting in the sunlight, a wisp of his white hair falling in his face. Again, a thought flitted across danny's mind.

_'he upgraded to a mullet?'_

Emerald eyes flashed for a moment in annoyance as the spirit raised his hands, an ethereal glow striking forth into the multitude of technological devices littered about the mall. White-gloved hands clenched into fists as he leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding being struck in the head by an electronic dictionary/translator.

"Whoever said _words can never hurt me_ obviously never met a dictionary"

Danny muttered as he shot through the air, charging his fists with ectoplasm, and drawing back one arm.

"Not so fast, ghost child!" Technus' voice rang out with a astounding amount of brightness, as the technology started forming into some bizarre canon-looking thing.

It whirred to life, firing a brilliant blue laser at danny.

He easily dodged the sapphire light, punching technus roughly in the jaw before darting back again, blocking another blue blast.

"You act like this is a game, ghost child…"

He smiled wickedly, and danny hesitated, not at all liking the maniac gleam in the ghost's eyes. "If that is so, perhaps we need to change the rules!"

Danny yelped in pain as one of the blue blasts finally connected with his black and white clad form. It enveloped him with the otherworldly glow, tightening around him.

Mouth open in a soundless scream, his form faded, shrinking down to a navy mist. Technus grinned joyfully, inserting a disk into one of his floating computers, and sending danny's mist right into the computer after it.

"There is no victory for you, child. Not in this game"

He leaned back, a chair forming out of random parts sucked from the toy store. His dark eyes glittered with amusement as he watched the blank moniter flicker to life, bright colors heralding the game's launch.

In yellow letters, the name flashed across the screen.

**_Pac-Man_**


	2. Chapter 2

Danny moaned softly, trying to open his eyes. He was laying on a hard surface, a faint charge of electricity flowing through him. He shivered, feeling the familiar wisp of smoke trail from between his lips, signaling his ghost sense. Finally, he wrenched his eyes open, though was quickly blasted by a waterfall of color. He winced, narrowing his eyes and trying to regain his bearings.

Bright yellow walls surrounded him, pitch-black floors below. The sky seemed a strange color of gray. Danny nearly jumped into the air with fright as something touched his side. He whipped around, landing on his butt. Three white tentacles flailed up in front of his face, causing him to jerk to the side. Phantom charged up an ecto-blast, alarmed to find that nothing happened. Still laying down, he looked over to where his hands were supposed to be.

Nothing.

He looked down, trying to see his feet.

Nothing

Becoming rather alarmed, danny twisted forward, finally spotting something white and black. Three white tentacles were coming out of his body, with a white stripe a little bit above them. He tried moving his arms. One of the tentacles twitched to the side, imitating what he was trying to do. Phantom remembered his previous fright, and looked around, eyes widening in shock Beside him, a brilliant pink blob hovered, reminding him painfully of Bertrand. It had huge eyes, the pupils focused solely on him. The edges seemed translucent, light just barely able to pass through it. The creature blinked, looking past danny. He turned around, locking gazes with another blob, this one a pale green/blue. It muttered something, white eyes narrowed. The pink one behind him replied in a squeaky voice, prodding danny in the back with something. He whipped around, only to yell out in alarm as he found himself a half inch from the thing.

His ghost sense went off again.

Phantom looked at the two of them quizzically, wondering what was going on. If they were ghosts… they looked rather weird. Even Bertrand had human features. These just had eyes. And a mouth.

The pink one opened its tiny maw, uttering something that sounded like a bird chirping mixed with a very P.Oed cat. He winced, saying under his breath a small complaint to the noise.

Suddenly, it felt like a billion needles were jabbing all over his body, little pinpricks that weren't really painful, but very annoying. Danny shook his head, trying to rid himself of the strange sensation.

"I assume you can understand me now, darkie."

Phantom gaped at her. He knew she was female now… somehow, he just did. That pinprick thingy must have given him that knowledge.

"My name is phantom." It was the only thing he came up with, given the circumstance, and didn't really count as 'witty banter'.

"I take that as a yes"

She smiled slyly, glancing behind her.

"Well, my time is fast approaching. The game has started."

She turned back to Phantom, a trace of worry crossing her eyes.

"Don't get eaten while blue… otherwise, attack the orb."

Suddenly, she slid backward, being pushed by something until she was outside of the strange energy door. Phantom gazed at it for a second, before trying to get to his feet. He tried the normal 'use hands to push self upward' but that utterly failed. He tried rolling, but that didn't work either.

Finally, the pale blue ghost blob thing he saw earlier sighed in exasperation, wrapping one tentacle around danny and setting him upright. He floated like he normally did in ghost mode, and assumed the flying principles were the same.

He ended up toppling over, his face smashing into the ground.

The blue one laughed openly at him, setting him upright once more. The ghost didn't have cool skin, like most other ghosts he met, and didn't seem aggressive.

"Relax. Dude. Just look where you want to go. And don't look back"

The blue one was soon sucked through the doors as well.

Phantom looked around the empty room, still wondering what was going on.

There!

He spotted a slightly reflective surface and, remembering what the blue ghost said, focused on it.

Sure enough, he soon began gliding along the floor, approaching the mirror like section. When he saw his reflection, it was all he could do to not faint in shock.

HE WAS A BLOB!

Just like the other blobs, only black. The top of his head seemed to be spiked in the fashion of his hair, colored white. His tentacles were white, apparently signaling the presence of arms and/or legs. The white stripe probably was in place of the belt he had on while in his regular form. His pupils were a brilliant glowing green.

Wonderful.

Just when he thought things couldn't get worse, he felt a strange tugging in the pit of his stomach. He looked down, confused. Danny almost toppled over when he was dragged toward the blue energy. It looked like a wall of shimmering blue and white, sparks dancing across it.

Danny closed his eyes in fright, expecting pain. Instead, he felt small tremors under his feet…er… tentacles. Around him, yellow orbs floated mystically, emitting a faint glow. He tried to touch one, but merely phased through it. Raising one eyebrow, he inched toward the end of the hall, only to stop dead. The warning the pink one gave him flashed across his mind, and he whipped around, trying to get back through the blue wall. His color had flushed a dark navy blue.

From around the corner, a huge orb turned, approaching with startling swiftness, huge maw opening and closing, snapping up the yellow orbs hungrily.

It surged toward Danny, dark mouth opening once last time, the ghost boy's eyes closing in fear.

'Im doomed…'


	3. Chapter 3

From around the corner, a huge orb turned, approaching with startling swiftness, huge maw opening and closing, snapping up the yellow orbs hungrily.

It surged toward Danny, dark mouth opening once last time, the ghost boy's eyes closing in fear.

'Im doomed…'

"Darkie! Move!"

He was jerked back by something, his eyes flying open. His navy blue body was being tugged along by another blue figure, pale eyes narrowed in concentration.

He glanced back at the looming figure of the yellow ball, squeaking in fright and turning back toward where he was going.

Smaller golden orbs were ignored, a split in the large hallway becoming apparent.

Danny could almost feel the breath of that huge thing on his heels when a small beep resonated through his mind. The navy blue vanished from him and his savior, bright pink seen in the corner of his eye.

He was stopped abruptly, his ghostly body slamming hard into a wall. He had missed the turn. Lifting one limb, he rubbed the side of his head, glancing toward the pink ghost. She had leapt toward the huge thing, smiling like a madwoman. Surprisingly, it had turned around, fleeing as the pink one advanced on it. She lunged forward, tackling the huge orb.

The yellow thing stopped, shivered once, and shattered into a million pieces. Danny blinked once as the pink little ghost smiled, floating toward him.

Suddenly, everything went dark.

* * *

In the ghost zone, technus watched the young halfa's progress with amusement. Though mildly surprised that the boy had gotten past the first level, the ghost was confident he wouldnt get much further.

He adjusted his sunglasses, cracking his knuckles and placing his hand over the computer which danny's spirit was caged in. A glowing blue disk was sucked into the machine, red letters appearing on its moniter.

* * *

Danny heard sounds that resembled an arcade, but the darkness around him hindered any discovery.

Glancing down, phantom sighed in relief when he saw that he was back in his regular body, complete with hands and feet. Gazing around for a bit, he spotted a pale green light pulsing to his right.

He shrugged, figuring he really couldn't get any more in trouble, and stepped toward the light. His boots were silent on whatever ground he was on, luminescent eyes reflecting the strange glow.

It seemed to be around the size of a basketball, still pulsing in a rhythmic, slow heartbeat of light. Danny reached out, white-gloved fingers gently touching its surface.

Nothing happened at first, but soon the light flashed outward, growing swiftly in intensity, and swallowing up his figure, ignoring his small yelp of surprise.

* * *

Danny opened his eyes once more, trying to blink away the black spots dancing over his vision. Something under him was oddly warm…

He looked down, eyes widening when he seemed to be sitting on a weird green emu with a long tail. His boots were strapped into stirrups, belted down to the leather looping around the bird's sternum. Looking around, Danny spotted a small gray disk on the black ground.

Glancing back down at the green bird, he grabbed the reins that connected to its overly bright orange beak, and tugged them toward the disks.

It squawked at him in return, opening huge emerald wings for a moment before folding them again and refusing to move. He glared at the bird, wondering what idiotic game this was supposed to be.

Danny flipped up the hood of his cloak, not realizing how eerie it made his glowing eyes seem under the shadows. A few strands of his white hair fell out from the hood, gleaming in the darkness around them.

A few more minutes passed, with nothing happening. Phantom growled in frustration, having already decided that he needed to beat whatever games were sent his way in order to get out of this nightmarish land. The only problem was, figuring out which game he was in.

Frustration grew, and several failed attempts at removing the straps from his legs only let it grow faster. He raised his hand up in a fist, preparing to just blast the stupid stirrups.

Instead of a green ball of energy forming, pallid gold dust swirled around his palm, creating a small handle in it, and stretching out to form some sort of pole. Engraved, just below the handle, was a small insignia. In the darkness, danny squinted to read it, barely making it out.

"Joust?" he mused, searching his memory. A few years ago, he had played this game with tucker, but it was so old they had just used cheat codes and saw how high the levels went.

Really, with infinite lives, there was no end to this game.

He noticed that a silvery white cape had fallen across his shoulders, as well as a hood. It fanned out over the back of his mount, gleaming innocently around him.

The bird beneath him jolted forward, much to his surprise. It fluttered its wings, trotting smoothly toward the gray disk, and standing upon it.

Danny closed his eyes, whispering to himself. "Let the games begin"

White light shot down around him, both him and his mount dissipating.

* * *

**I want to thank my reviewers, both on FF and DA. I know how happy it makes me to have my name mentioned, so I figured. Why not give other people the happiness?**

**Halfa-NariMaruko, Wingsofmorphius, NobodyFamousMissSelarne, and someone who did not give their name O.o**

**Oh, yea! I am now becoming obsessed with Fruits Basket and DNAngel. I may be doing a DNAngel/Danny Phantom X-over someday! I cannot belive I am saying this, but Phantom Dark Mousy is about twenty times hotter than Danny. dies There! I said it! **

**Its true, though! I am a sucker for funky hair! My loves include, from FB: Yuki, Kyou, Haru (white) / From DNAngel: Phantom Dark, Daisuke Niwa and Satoshi Hikari. Krad is pretty hot too, but his psychotic expressions ruin his good looks. O.O;; Sasuke is also hot (From naruto) and neji would look better if he smiled more, but overall, they are both good-looking. Kakoshi-sensei is bad ass**

**Now... REVEIW, BAKA NEZUMI!**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom…bla bla bla… Or Pacman…bla bla bla… or joust… blah blah blah… They all belong to their respective owners… Blah blah blah.

* * *

Upon opening his eyes, Danny really didn't find himself anywhere in particular. Well, if you don't count standing on a floating island surrounded by empty space that reminded him eerily of the ghost zone.

He lifted one white gloved hand to push back his hood, when neon green letters flashed above his head, counting down. The phantom could feel his emerald mount stiffen slightly below him, feathers fluffing out as its legs bent in preperation for something. Danny quickly grasped the reins, glancing up in time to see the quickly fading **'GO!'**

Around him, other floating islands materialized, bringing along several other green birds with riders. Most of them were in blood red armor, without a cape. A few of them turned their heads to look at him quizzically before urging their mounts into flight, randomly soaring around the dark area.

A strange, rippling sound came from below his island, and he nudged the bird's ribs, getting it to slowly step forward. By craning his head, he was able to see a pale blue bird fluttering below, with a rider garbed in brilliant gold. The rider looked up, and he waved down at it, unsure if he was 'player 2' or just another rider to shove off to win the game.

The sapphire bird spread its wings, shooting upward faster than imaginable. Danny yelped, yanking back on the reins and squeezing the bird's sides roughly.

It squawked in alarm, whipping around and sprinting off the edge of the rock island, wings snapping open. Danny yelped as the bird plummeted a few feet before jerking upward, flying quickly toward another floating rock.

His cape flapped behind him, glowing eyes flicking back and confirming the bright blue bird pursuing them. The golden rider's jousting pole was lowered as it and the bird rushed at him, the wind searing across their feathers quite loud in danny's ears. He urged his own green mount to fly instead of just gliding, finally getting it to flap hard and soar upwards.

The gold followed, his bird snapping at their tails. Phantom clenched his teeth, bending low and urging his mount to go faster. The response was pleasing to him, for its wings slammed down multiple times with a strange suctioning sound, jolting forward faster than the other could follow. They wove through the half dozen red riders, his muscles tensed so hard that his hands shook slightly. He turned around, wind whipping at his snowy hair, tugging the hood back to fall about his shoulders. A sharp gasp was drawn in as he saw the sapphire bird lash out at a red rider passing below it, the talons sinking into his shoulder and back before a flash of white light turned him into a faintly glowing green egg.

His own emerald eyes watched as it fell quickly downwards, spinning slightly. It hit the edge of a floating island with a sickening crack, rolling into a pit of lava. A small bubble popped in its wake, and he vaguely noted that the fallen rider's mount had flown away, dissipating slightly until it was no more.

He was jerked out of his horrified thoughts by a loud shriek from ahead, eyes widening as he saw the blue bird rip another rider out, this time, snapping up the egg into its beak and swallowing it gracefully, turning its eyes to Danny. He could have sworn it just grinned at him.

Phantom yanked on the reins, turning his bird about and launching them both at a fast pace away from the enemy. The wing beats of his mount synchronized for a few moments with his heartbeat, everything going quiet.

He was the last one still flying. Everyone else had been wiped out in the blink of an eye, and he hadn't noticed. The wind still lashed at his face, his white cape billowing behind him, a clear beacon in these dark skies.

Slowly, he looked back, mouth opening slightly to take in a breath. The golden rider was just behind him, red eyes shining gleefully behind his helmet, an aura of malevolence coming off him in waves. His sapphire bird slammed down its wings, talons raking forward…. He was done for….

NO!

Danny ripped himself away from the image, yelling at his own flying creature to move faster. He leaned forward, closing his eyes to shut out the image from his mind, unwittingly causing the bird to dive.

He recognized the sensation, glowing orbs snapping open in time to pull back on the reins, watching fearfully as a few feathers were scorched from its chest. Below him was the lake of magma, orange and reds filling his vision, tongues of flame licking up around them, hungry for his body. The fiery lights were reflected from gleaming feathers, highlighting his own pale face, shining eyes full with new determination.

In the heat that whirled around him, Danny urged the bird to fly lower, careful not to singe it like he did last time. He carefully dipped his jousting pole into the magma, watching as the strange thing glowed red before blazing white with heat.

The blue one was behind him again, attempting to recreate his stunt, flying low and fast over the molten rock. Danny turned his bird around, having it hover in one spot with his jousting pole aimed at the rider. The fire around them hurt his eyes, image of the white pole tip burned into his retinas…just a few more seconds…

The blue swooped forward, screeching shrilly at Phantom, who simply glared back in response.

Wait for it…

"NOW!"

Danny yelled, jamming his heels into the bird, making it shoot strait upward, the blue blinking in confusion as its prey disappeared. Unknown to it, the 'prey' only needed that short burst of flight, jousting pole coming down from above to plunge into the sapphire bird's back, talons of green ripping the golden rider triumphantly from his seat, changing into a white egg.

It soared upward with momentum from the strike, being caught in one of Danny's gloved hands. His bird glided tiredly toward a nearby island, ruffling its feathers slightly in relief of the lack of heat.

Danny stared at the white egg for a few minutes after landing, wondering what to do with it. Eat it, like the bird did? Or toss it into the lava…

His question was answered for him, as a bright light flashed from the egg, surrounding him, and sending him back to the 'between' place.

His bird squawked loudly at the light, glaring at the egg's broken fragments.

* * *

Back in between, Danny groaned in annoyance.

How many old games would he have to go through?

Though the last one would have been fun to play, had it not betted his life, but still….

Amused laughter sounded from his right, and he whipped around to face it. A glowing screen smiled at him, the face of Technus plastered across it. Phantom automatically growled low in his throat, shifting to a battle stance.

"My my, ghost child, I think you just gave me an idea!"

Danny paled at his, dreading whatever could give the 'emotion hating' ghost such a broad smile.

"But be warned…this one may be a bit tricky even for you! No flying, after all..."

"WAIT!"

The screen faded away, the ghost's echoing laugh still ringing in his ears. He clenched his fists in anger. Technus was only playing with him! There wasn't any REAL plot behind this stupid challenge!

"AARRRGHHHH!"

Danny fell to his knees, screaming angrily at the sky, launching an ecto-blast upward for good measure. He punched the ground, the darkness not letting him know that he left a sizable dent. White creeped in over his vision, and he growled again, closing his eyes and letting the next game commence.

Darn that spirit.

Mentally, Danny wrote an 'IOU' for the electrical specter. Danny now owes the dude 'two weeks in the newly ghost-proofed fenton stockades, as well as a good beating.'

As soon as he got out of this dratted place, anyway.


End file.
